Is There A Six Hour Cut Of The IT Mini-Series ?




Check out www.bleedingcool.com's discussion of the first part of the IT mini-series.
This week we discuss Part 1 of the miniseries that influenced everyone’s fear of Tim Curry in clown makeup: IT. Listen and then be sure and join us over on Facebook to see if you agree!
Some of my favorite lines:
  • "I have seen it before, but I don't remember what happens."
  • First impressions: Drew: "I watched it from behind the couch.  Frame one is absolutely terrifying." That would be the opening scene where a young girl first encounters Pennywise.  "It's not quite as overwhelming as it once was."  "I have a hard time looking at him (Pennywise)"  Julia Guzman, "He (Pennywise) haunted me my whole  life."  Tony Salvaggio, "Since I had read the book a couple times before I saw the mini-series, the mini-series has always left me really cold.  It feels like TV."  (He also says Clive Barker is scarier.  For shame)  Jason Henderson, "King really believes in the magic.  He has a big Bradbury, Serling streak.  A lot of times the adaptations of Stephen King are really sentimental.  A little melodramatic.  A little cheesy."  
  • "The people playing the adults are like the A-Game."  
  • "As you get older, childhood does begin to fade." (Discussing it is strange they all forgot about the battle with the clown until they get a call from Mike.)
  • "On a metaphorical level, this is about child abuse."
  • "It's difficult to stop talking about Pennywise."
  • "As far as monster make up goes, he looks very much  like Bozo the clown with a different color scheme.  Occasionally they'll put some weird contacts in his eyes or give him razor sharp teeth.  It's funny something as simple as that can be so effective."
  • "Time Curry's energy as this character has gone on to be a very iconic figure among horror villains." 
  • "I don't have a fear of clowns.  I have a fear of THIS clown."
And then there was this: Salvaggio says, "It was an almost unfilmable thing.  There was a six hour cut.  Apparently Stephen King liked the six hour cut, but not this version."  I was unaware there was a six hour edition.

5 comments:

  1. I have never heard about this 6 hours cut before...

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  2. There is not a six-hour cut. There was a screenplay written that was intended to be a six-hour miniseries (or maybe even a seven-hour one), but when ABC decided to only produce four hours, the screenplay was heavily condensed.

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  3. Well, I don't know how others will take this info, however Bev Vincent relayed statement from Cary Fukunaga that has me worried about any future It adaptation. Long story short, no spider-monster showdown, which may mean no deadlights!

    Vincent: " Cary Fukunaga, fresh off his recent success directing HBO’s True Detective, is working on a script for the two-part remake of It. It appears that the first part will be about the kids and the second part about the adults. Fukunaga said, “There will be no spider at the end of our movie. We’re definitely honoring the spirit of Stephen King, but the horror has to be modernized to make it relevant. That’s my job, right now, on this pass. I’m working on making the horror more about suspense than visualization of any creatures. I just don’t think that’s scary. What could be there, and the sounds and how it interacts with things, is scarier than actual monsters.”

    The full Cemetery Dance article can be found here, along with some interesting reviews of Mr. Mercedes:

    https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/category/stephenkingnews/

    ChrisC

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    Replies
    1. The spider sucked in the first movie, so if he can come up with something better, I'm all for it.

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  4. As Bryant said, there is only a 6 hour screenplay. I'm pretty sure it was going to be directed by George Romero, but he dropped out when the network wanted it cut to the 4 hour version that was filmed.

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